Children's Ministry will be returning on January 6th.Youth Group resumes on January 6th.ESL Cafe resumes on January 7th.GriefShare will be starting on January 7th. Register online.Winchester Group resumes on January 8th.Tuesday Communion resumes on January 8th.DivorceCare resumes on January 8th. Register online. Wednesday's With God resumes on January 9th.The Snack Program resumes on January 10th.Choir Rehearsal resumes on January 10th.The Service of Healing and Annointing resumes on January 11th.Christian Meditation resumes on January…

This week, the Diocese of Toronto appointed Steve Shaw as Honourary Assistant to St. Paul’s Bloor Street beginning January 1, 2013. Steve and his wife Christine (aka Chris) have many friends at St. Paul’s as he served as Associate Priest here from 1986 to 1989.Steve has had a parallel career as a priest and as a professional engineer. He retired from his professional work as a Senior Executive with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) four years ago and since then has been Priest-in-Charge of St. George-on-Yonge, leading th…

A Message from The Most Rev. Colin R. Johnson, Archbishop of Toronto St. Paul's has always had an amazing leadership team. Young clergy have been nurtured at St. Paul's and have moved on to provide leadership as bishops, deans, archdeacons and rectors of some of the most influential churches in the country. You have today one of the most creative ministry teams anywhere, and it is not surprising that two of them have just been appointed as the senior pastors of very significant parishes in the city; St. Clement's, Eglinton and…

This is a week of counting angel wings and halos and making sure we have the right costume for each of our little lambs. A new stable is under construction, ready we hope for the big day. It is Christmas Pageant time and we are busy preparing.We are blessed with a thriving Children's Ministry where more and more children and families are joining our community. On December 9th in the afternoon we will gather together with the 85 children participating in our Pageant to hear the story of Christ’s birth.Our pageant is a musical and our o…

Advent and Christmas can get obscene. You know what I mean. People spending money they don’t have, on things they don’t need, to impress people they often don’t like. And while there can be moments of peace and holiness over the coming weeks, there is incredible pressure to have the “perfect Christmas” – perfectly decorated house, fabulous food, luxurious gifts. It all boils down to a message of “consume, consume, consume”.Here at St. Paul’s, we want to help you experience the kind of Advent…

This Christmas Season we are challenging every member of St. Paul's to participate in our Advent Ask in one of two ways.1) Volunteer your time on Christmas Day to serve lunch at St. Paul's to those who otherwise would be hungry or on their own. We will be serving lunch to over 150 people from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. To get involved please contact David Kirk McCleary.2) Donate the gift of money to Jacaranda Farm. Named for the flowering tree, Jacaranda Farm strives to build bridges of peace between Muslim and Christian youth. We are rais…

The Courageous Ordinary By Barry Parker, RectorRemembrance Day brings up all sorts of memories, experiences, questions and thoughts. We acknowledge that as Canadians we are a blessed people living in a blessed land. An aspect of that blessing arises through Canadians, often very young with little life experience, who offer themselves in service to their country. They are from all parts of this great nation, with all manner of background and life stories.What strikes me are the images so prominent on Remembrance Sunday.The grainy, black and…

An Early Christmas TraditionBy Joyce Badley, Executive PastorOver the next couple of weeks everyone at St. Paul’s is invited to bring a smile to a child’s face this Christmas. It’s really easy. Simply pick up a shoe box from the Atrium and fill it with gifts for a child in need.Our goal this year is to have 500 shoe boxes by November 11th. If every individual from St. Paul’s took the time to make up one shoe box we would well exceed that target. To participate:1. Select a shoe box. Pick one up fro…

One of my favourite television shows is “How It’s Made” on the Discovery Channel. The tagline is simply, “Find out how the everyday objects people use become the things they are.” You can learn about the manufacture of items such as bubblegum, guitars, or prosthetic eyes. It is engaging, interesting and you always learn something.This Sunday, October 14th, we will undertake the St. Paul’s equivalent of “How It’s Made”. Together we will look at what seems to be the ordinary and expected, look…

Many of my friends are not Christians, but most of them are interested in what I believe and are certainly curious about why I do what I do.As we get ready for “Back to Church Sunday" on September 30th, I am reminded of one friend in particular. I have known him for almost 20 years and while he grew up going to church, he had stopped as an adult.This friend would always be cordial and ask me how my work was going, but we would never touch on issues of faith.Then one rainy day in London, England as we were walking together, he turned…

Meet friends and make new ones at a St. Paul's Connection Group. The entire congregation is invited to join us at one of three locations across the city, on October 24th.Email the hosts to RSVP.1) The Moate residence at 285 Mutual St.2) The Kaminski residence at 431 Sumach St. 3) The Walsh residence at 109 Bessborough Dr. View October 24th Connection Groups in a larger map

This summer we have been hard at work redesigning stpaulsbloor.org. Our new website incoporates some of the positive features of our old website, as well as some brand new content in a more user-friendly format. Our goal was to make everything accessible in one or two clicks, while utlizing some of our beautiful photography and graphics. We hope you enjoy exploring the new website. If you would like to share your feedback, please contact Tanya Baleta.